Sometimes all students need is a little break from the reality of school and life.

On Wednesdays and Thursdays in room 120, teens escape our world, bringing to life their own characters, ranging from barbarians and trolls to vampires.

The club teaches students various tabletop games including Vampire Masquerade, Dungeons and Dragons, and other roleplaying games, helping them learn not only how to be a player, but how to be a host as well.

In the club, students set their imaginations free. They are in a safe space, able to escape from school and go into any world they want to. Students are able to take an hour from their day to live-action roleplaying and turn their imagination into reality.

“It’s a really fun environment where people get to be themselves, create characters, and go on wild adventures and have fun with it,” Rebecca Courtney (‘23) said.

Unlike regular role playing games, Dungeons and Dragons (D&D), the most played game in the club, has now moved to their phones where they can control their movements and actions through the touch of a few buttons.

Without much advertisement, the club has easily gathered members due to the fact that most students know of D&D from game nights last year and even a play put on that brought light to the game; but they have never really had a place to learn.

“It’s completely been word of mouth and through classes. We were originally going to create a website to gather more people, but then I got 40 people that were on board,” Caden Finch (‘23), club president, said.

There are different roles people play in this group, they can either be a dungeon master (DM) or a character. A DM does not play the game, but helps build a plot and story line for the players.

“We have beginners, intermediate, advanced, and experts. I do the expert team. There are seven people in our group. I DM them. Essentially what it is, is I’m the storyteller and they’re all the players. If you think of it in video game terms, I’m the person making the game. They’re the ones actually playing,” Gianni Bella-Stankus (‘25) said.

In Dungeons and Dragons, the longer people play, the higher their player abilities rise, and the more the story develops. Based on their character’s information, they can either get past certain obstacles or be defeated. The role of the dice determines the characters fate, a one could mean it is the end of their journey, or a 15 could mean they defeat the monster, spot the trap, or outwit their opponent. Depending on their character, the higher the stats are, the less damage they may take and the bigger the villain their DM (the lead storyteller) can throw at them.

“D&D is basically a role-playing game mixed with fighting and stuff and you create your own character, you have a certain amount of levels that you can put into stats, and based on your stats, you can do different things. I’m a rogue, so I have really high dexterity, so I can steal stuff very easily,” Benjamin Cable (‘24) said, “You roll a D-20, which has 20 sides, and whatever the number is tells you what you can do. Your stats give you pluses or minuses towards them.”

When things seem bland in your life, why not go pick up a new gaming skill? If you are interested in joining the Table 101 club, email Mr. Will at [email protected]